Estimated payments from stocks sold unexpectedly

[nomadicmike]

My only income for 2019 is from an unexpected sale of stocks from a company that went private and bought all of the public shares.  Do I need to pay estimated taxes on the proceeds?

[tagteam]

---

@nomadicmike wrote:

Do I need to pay estimated taxes on the proceeds?

---

You actually only have to worry about a penalty for underpayment.

However, you can avoid the penalty if you owe less than $1,000 in tax for 2019, or if you pay at least 90% of the tax owed for 2019 or 100% of the tax shown on your return for 2018, whichever is smaller. 

See https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estimated-taxes